


You’re All the Things I’ve Got to Remember

by mautadite



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bath Sex, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:47:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24901057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mautadite/pseuds/mautadite
Summary: “All right. I should get out of here, before I start looking like a prune.”Ellie takes another considering look into the tub.  “Pretty sexy prune, if you ask me.”
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 469





	You’re All the Things I’ve Got to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for _The Last of Us II_. AU where Tommy dies in Seattle. Which, you know. RIP to him, but now things are different.
> 
> Title from _Take on Me_.

Ellie had put on a record before she came upstairs, and Dina can hear the up-tempo drumbeat of the music, even with the bathroom door only slightly ajar. Even more clearly, she can hear the sounds of Ellie and JJ dancing in the hallway. JJ is all giggles and off-beat clapping, while Ellie shuffles them around and goes hilariously off-key while belting out _‘in a day or two’_. Dina smiles to herself, and sinks deeper into the tub, holding her book above her head to read by the light coming in the window.

Several minutes and a few songs later, she realises that she can no longer hear them. A little while after that, the music lowers drastically in volume. Dina folds over the edge of her page and rests the book on the chair next to the tub just as Ellie pokes her head around the door. Dina grins.

“Hey babe.”

“Hey mama.” Ellie slips in, leaving the door ajar. She peeks into the tub as she moves to sit in the chair. “How come you’re not using those fancy bubble soaps or whatever that Robin got you?”

Dina shrugs, making the water ripple faintly.

“More trouble than they’re worth. And I’m pretty sure they’re way expired.” She cocks an eyebrow at Ellie. “Besides, don’t act like you’re disappointed.”

Ellie makes a show of peering into the tub again. The water is clean and mostly still, and while it doesn’t offer the clearest view, it also doesn’t leave much to the imagination. She leers, tipping an exaggerated wink.

“That I am not,” she says appreciatively, and Dina laughs, flicking droplets of water onto her face.

The kiss Ellie dips in to give her tastes of both their smiles. It starts out as a peck, but Dina cups her shoulder with a wet hand to make it last a few seconds longer. After pulling away, Ellie forgoes the chair to instead sit in the floor in front of it, using its legs as a backrest. It puts them pretty much at eye level.

Dina rests her arms on the rim of the tub and perches her chin on them. Ellie gives her a lopsided smile, and she feels one of those wiry hands begin running through her damp hair. She leans her head into it.

“Is he down?” she asks after a few moments. Ellie’s fingers are rubbing her scalp with slow and tender strokes.

“Yup. All danced out.”

Dina glances at the window behind her. The light streaming in is deep and orange with the setting of the sun.

“Think he’ll be up in time to get a bath before it gets dark?”

Ellie follows her gaze.

“Mm, I don’t know. He’s pooped. We did boogie _pretty_ hard.”

“I heard.” She smiles fondly at Ellie, imagining them swaying around the hallway, Ellie bouncing JJ in her arms, then putting him to stand on her feet carefully while she moves them around. JJ loves when she does that. He’ll use his little fists to grip onto her jeans or her fingers while he gazes up at her and laughs his joy aloud.

The smile she gives Ellie is returned threefold, and she leans in to give her another peck.

“Man,” she says, resting her chin back on her arms. “Robin is gonna freak when she sees that he’s started taking little steps. He was still just creeping the last time they saw him, right?”

In the depths of her hair, Ellie’s fingers go still. Dina glances up at her; the smile is still on her face, but now, it looks like a thing frozen in ice, rather than anything real and alive.

“Yeah.” She clears her throat, and removes her hand from Dina’s hair. “Sounds about right.”

She’s still sitting right there, next to the tub, but suddenly, she’s twenty miles distant. Dina reaches out with a damp hand to touch her arm; it feels as hard as rock. Dina’s shoulders drop with her sigh.

“Ellie…”

They’ll all be heading into Jackson next week, like they do a couple times every year. Replenish supplies, get some news, do a little visiting. They always stop by the cemetery first to sit at Joel’s grave, and then spend a while at the markers that had been put up for Jesse and Tommy. Then they make a few rounds about the town, stopping to see Maria and William and Astrid and the others. Their last stop is always at Jesse’s parents’ house, to spend the night.

Ellie doesn’t react to Dina’s hand on her arm; just pinches the bridge of her nose and smiles more tightly.

“Ellie,” Dina says again. She waits until Ellie looks at her. “I talked to Robin and Huan after last time, remember? They promised to lay off. I’ll remind them if I need to.”

Furrows appear in Ellie’s brow for a brief moment before they clear, and she shakes her head.

“Yeah, no, it’s fine.”

“I’m serious. I can—”

“No, Dina, it’s okay.” Her face finally goes back to some sense of normalcy, though her smile is still tight. She pats the hand that Dina still has on her arm, gives it a little squeeze. “I’m sure they’ll behave, and if they don’t, I’ll deal with it or whatever.” 

The thing is, she shouldn’t _have_ to deal with it. She shouldn’t have to endure Robin and Huan and sometimes Maria incessantly hounding her to come back to Jackson, constantly poking at the pebble of guilt in Ellie’s heart until it’s ready to roll downhill and become an avalanche. There’s been nothing easy about the past couple of years; nothing easy about sometimes finding Ellie curled up and sobbing near the borders of their property; nothing easy about waking up screaming, thinking she can still feel the press of Abby’s knife against her throat. Every day is a fight, but being with each other and JJ makes it worth it. Moving back to Jackson won’t magically solve anything. Dina wishes Jesse’s parents understood that. 

She peers at Ellie.

“Do you wanna—”

“No, honestly, it’s fine.”

Dina stares at her, scoffing. “You don’t even know what I was gonna ask!” she complains, batting water at Ellie. Ellie shields herself with an arm, laughing.

“Yes, I do. You were going to ask if I wanna skip this visit, and I don’t.” 

Dina bites her lip, both because Ellie is right, and she’s sceptical. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” She pinches a spot on Dina’s wrist. “They fucking adore JJ; I’m not gonna get in the way of grandma and grandpa time. I swear, Huan’s probably not gonna wait until the kid can walk properly before he tries to take him fishing.”

It’s not that much of an exaggeration, and Dina chuckles. Ellie pinches her wrist again, and at last, that strained sort of look has seeped out of her eyes. Her smile is tired, but genuine.

“I’m good with going to Jackson, don’t worry. It’s just… a lot, sometimes.”

Dina nods. “I know, babe. But I’ll be right there.”

Their hands find each other’s, Dina’s right and Ellie’s left, fingers interlocking. Dina brings Ellie’s hand to her mouth so she can kiss the back of her palm. When Ellie smiles, she does it again, and again, and again; a simple reminder to herself of the ways they make each other happy. Ellie doesn’t try to take her hand away, just looks at Dina with one side of her mouth curled into a half-grin.

After she loses count of the kisses, Dina drops a final one onto Ellie’s knuckles, and releases her hand. The water around her has slowly been getting cooler.

“All right. I should get out of here, before I start looking like a prune.”

Ellie takes another considering look into the tub. 

“Pretty sexy prune, if you ask me.”

Laughing, Dina stretches across to wrap her hand around the back of Ellie’s neck.

“Sexy, huh? Maybe I should ask for your opinion more often.”

They meet in the middle for a kiss that becomes slower and sultrier the longer it goes on. Beneath her fingers, Ellie’s pulse flutters away in her neck, as if the music had gotten into her blood. She takes her time, and to Dina there’s nothing more heart-clenching, more head-lightening, than being the centre of Ellie’s focus and attention. A finger on her chin coaxes her to open up, and they deepen the kiss. Dina arches closer to Ellie, feeling the water lapping against the sides of the tub, moving against her skin. She suddenly doesn’t feel so cool any more. 

Ellie smiles against her lips, and Dina feels her fingers tucking a lock of damp hair behind her ear. She opens her eyes. Ellie’s are wide open as well, and this close, she can see all the flecks in her irises, see how they look more green in the light, hazel in shadow.

“Sit back,” Ellie says while their mouths are still joined. She accompanies the words with a gentle shove, making Dina place her back to the head of the tub. Her lips trail down Dina’s neck, and her breath catches in her throat when Ellie hits the spot just below her ear. Pinpricks rise on her skin, little whorls of sensation travelling to her extremities.

“Hey now,” she says breathily, leaning back. Ellie just grins, and sinks a hand beneath the water to rest lightly on her waist.

“Scooch back,” she orders. Dina huffs as she complies, wiggling her butt back until she’s sitting up straight, and her breasts rise above the water line. Cool air washes over her nipples, and they’re hard in an instant.

“Someone’s feeling bossy,” she comments, biting down on her bottom lip.

Ellie raises a brow, getting onto her knees for better leverage. “You say that like you don’t love it.”

“Shut up.”

They’re laughing as they kiss again. It’s a short one this time; Ellie seems intent on getting back to the exploration of her neck. There’s a spot just behind her ear that always drives her crazy, but Ellie avoids it for now, giving her little hickeys up and down the column of her throat. Dina squirms in place, feeling the heat rising in her chest, her heartbeat pumping. Ellie’s right hand is still below the water, on her waist, and Dina grips her wrist as an anchor. 

Teeth scrape against her neck, and she gasps.

“Yeah?” Ellie whispers in her ear, chuckling. She finally moves to that spot, kissing it with only the slightest pressure. Dina’s clit throbs, and she feels like she’s turning into a puddle.

“Yeah,” she moans, clutching hard at Ellie’s wrist.

She spends a long time on that area behind her ear, making Dina wriggle in impatience, squeezing her legs together and trying to put pressure on her clit. Ellie kisses her way down to her collarbone, making trails with her tongue, until she gets to the scar left by the arrow. It’s been almost three years, but she still sometimes gets twinges when she moves her shoulder a certain way, or carries a heavy load of laundry. Ellie nuzzles it tenderly, kissing around the puckered scar tissue. Below the water, the hand on her waist moves down, skimming silkily across her stomach, and down to cup her pussy. 

“Oh, fuck,” Dina groans, grinding down onto Ellie’s hand. Two fingers are pressing directly onto her clit, massaging in little circles.

“Raise your leg,” Ellie murmurs as she travels to the curve of Dina’s breast. She obeys without a thought, bending her left knee and resting the leg against the side of the tub. It opens her up, makes her hyperaware of the water around her, and Ellie’s touch. Ellie rubs against her clit some more, and at the same time, her mouth latches onto Dina’s nipple and sucks, tongue rubbing against the peak. 

“Fuck, fuck…” Her fingers grasp for the roots of Ellie’s hair, holding on tight.

Ellie raises her head.

“Too sore?” she asks huskily. Dina purses her lips in pleasure, shaking her head.

“No, it’s good. More.”

She gives her more, but slowly. Each breast gets attention in its turn, licked and sucked into pebbled peaks. Ellie kisses around her aureoles gently before moving in for the centre where she’s particularly sensitive, but it feels so fucking _good_. The hand between her leg moves lower down, the fingers on her swollen clit replaced with a thumb. Dina’s hips buck of their own accord when she feels a light touch just against her entrance.

“Mmm, god…” She doesn’t know when she’d closed her eyes, but she opens them to find Ellie staring straight at her, the smallest, sweetest smile on her lips. Dina smiles back, her breath catching. “Jesus, don’t tease me, babe.”

Ellie’s smile gets wider. “What if I like teasing you, though?” 

Dina flexes her hips, trying to drive herself down onto Ellie’s fingers. The water shifts and sloshes, splashing up against Ellie’s t-shirt. She doesn’t seem to notice, or care.

“Then tough. Come on.” It sounds embarrassingly like a whine. 

Ellie laughs.

The first finger slides into her without warning, and Dina groans. She’s already slick inside, and there’s no discomfort with the stretch, just a sweet ache. Ellie fucks her lazily, thrusting in with a rhythmic tempo. She moves her hips in minute increments to meet Ellie’s finger, the movement sending little ripples across the water. Ellie slips the finger out and returns with two of them, curling up into her. Dina throws her head back with the pleasure of it, but almost immediately looks up again, wanting to keep Ellie in her line of sight. 

“Babe,” she murmurs, and arches forward. Ellie bends to meet her.

Making out has always been one of her favourite things to do, and she likes it best when they’re making love like this. Unhurried, unrushed, all the time in the world and then some. Ellie’s tongue sweeps into her mouth as their lips fuse, and Dina hears herself grunting softly as pressure builds low in her stomach. One hand is still gripping the back of Ellie’s head, and the other moves beneath the water, finding her clit. It takes a few seconds of navigation to work around each other’s hands and find the right angle, but soon, she’s giving quiet little cries into Ellie’s mouth, rubbing herself off while Ellie fucks her with a mounting pace.

“God.” Ellie scrapes her teeth along her bottom lip as she pulls away, making Dina feel lightheaded. Kissing a path down to her chest once more, Ellie captures a nipple in her mouth, sucking sweetly, and Dina mutters a string of curses, rubbing hard against her clit, meeting every thrust from Ellie’s fingers with a gasp of satisfaction. 

Her orgasm crashes into her hard, and she bucks her hips up, going stiff, pressing down on her clit. Ellie doesn’t stop fucking her; she goes deeper and harder if anything, curling her fingers, and before Dina can come down from her peak, a second climax overtakes her. The water jerks and swirls as she strokes herself with fast firm movements, every nerve ending alive. She clamps down tight on Ellie’s fingers, crying out, shuddering with the pleasure that races all over her body.

She slumps down into the tub with a curse. She can feel moisture dotting her brow, and isn’t sure if it’s sweat or bath water that had splashed onto her face. Ellie grins, and removes her fingers very carefully, inch by inch.

“God.” Dina presses a wet hand to her forehead. “Okay, now I definitely look like a prune.”

Ellie gets a cupful of water from a nearby bucket to rinse her hand out, and then pecks Dina on the lips.

“I told you already. It works for you.”

Ellie gives her a hand to get to her feet in the tub, and then helps her rinse off with water from the bucket. She has a towel waiting when Dina steps out, and secures it around her with deft hands. Dina smiles, standing still through her ministrations, and then plucks at Ellie’s damp t-shirt.

“We’ve got to get you out of this.”

Ellie’s brows take an upward hike.

“I know, but slow down, tiger. At least wait until we get to the bedroom.”

Dina rolls her eyes, and smacks her shoulder. 

They fall into each other’s arms like a law of gravity. Ellie anchors both hands on her hips, and Dina wraps an arm about her waist. She brings her other hand up to cup Ellie’s cheek, warm against her palm. She seems calm and centred, as if their lovemaking had done as much for her as it had for Dina. Dina sweeps her thumb across her cheekbone. The love she feels for Ellie is like a tidal wave, and it seeks to bowl her over.

“You good?” she asks, caressing her cheek.

“I’m good,” Ellie confirms, and leans in to give her a kiss.

When they step out of the bathroom, they’re still in each other’s arms. Out here, Dina can hear that the record player is still going, now on a slow song that she doesn’t recognise, but makes her think of starry nights and warm fires and the sweet scratchiness of a lilting voice. Walking backwards, Ellie grins and puts a bit of a sway into her step. Dina does the same, cuddling up close to her.

They dance down the hallway, all the way to their bedroom.


End file.
